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He was up at 7:05. They nursed on the couch and he was being funny, growling anytime he stopped nursing. We got leaving early and were out at 7:50. We drove to Appolonia National Park, about 25 minutes away on the coast. August was being pretty grumpy about things. He usually perks up once he’s outside, or once in the backpack. But we got to the park, paid, parked, and got him in the backpack and he didn’t improve. Got out the Cheerios for him and he wasn’t happy when Carly held the container for him: “I love to help myself.”

Carly and I loved the park, both for the view and for the history. It is the remains primarily of a Crusader town and castle. In our time here I’ve thought of the Romans, Jews, Byzantines, Ottomans, etc. but hadn’t thought about the Crusades. Although August wasn’t too excited about it all we did spend a good amount of time there. On the way back we went down the beach trail, and then August did start to cheer up and become more curious. He asked what a few sites were, an a couple were big Byzantine cisterns. He was asking why they had to store the water, so I talked about the environment and reminded him of Masada. Then, he was being a machine and said he was a freshwater machine, spraying water everywhere. That changed, and he said he was a clam machine and spraying out clams. The rocks everywhere must have reminded him of clams, as he said they were all clams. But then I said that they were drying out. He turned back into a water machine, but this time he said, all on his own, that he was a saltwater machine, putting salt back in the water and spraying it on the clams. He knew that clams live in saltwater.

We drove towards home and stopped at the big Tiv Taam to get some herbs so Carly could make soy chicken. They stayed in the car and I went in with my phone and translator app. Unfortunately, I could only find one thing. Went back out and we headed home. As we got out of the car he asked me if I could like 17 on the air conditioner. We were home at 10:45. August was being Dragonbox Numbers building buildings – they would take 2000 or more days to build.

We ate some lunch. August had rice and mushrooms. The first one was too hot for him, but instead of just spitting it out he just sat there with it on his tongue for several seconds before spitting it out. They nursed, and he was sad when I turned the temperature up from 17.

They went and played with Duplos. First he said he was building a doctor robot. But when I went over and took Carly’s place he said”A robot. A robot that kills people.” “Can I build a machine that kills people?…Why?” “I’ll eventually have enough parts to kill people.” When Carly protested that she didn’t like that idea he assured her “I don’t yet.” For the record I did not, nor shall I ever, let him build a killer robot. I asked what parenting strategy I should use to get him to stop talking about making a killing robot and listed a couple (ignoring him, forbidding him from saying it, etc.) He came up with another: “The thing that makes me not say that is having treats every day.” He then sang a”I’m getting parts for our machine” song and seemed to be getting parts for a different machine. But then he added”I’ve got enough parts for a killing machine.”

Luckily, we built a zoo instead. But then he destroyed it and said “I’m remodeling it.” I built a rocket and he was sending me in the rocket to places. He asked something about how long people stay on the moon, so I looked it up and found that the longest mission was about three days on the moon. He spotted my kitty mug on the table, newly arrived from Korea: “Why you got your kitty mug‽ It looks sad.” Back to Duplos, he broke the rocket, then brought in a game from in the car where we have our car break down and we call someone to fix it: “Hello company that fixes rockets. Can you fix my rocket so I can go to the moon?”

We had been talking what it was like to walk on the moon and I realized a video would be better. We went to the couch and watched videos of astronauts walking, hopping, falling, and driving on the moon. He then played with Google Maps and was looking for doctor places and found a hospital, as he knows the symbols. We played some doctor game, then he was a hedgehog eating me as I was a worm. Carly then read him Jill’s Story in 26-Story Treehouse and read further on as well.

We all went upstairs and were cleaning/sorting/etc. He was messing up his bed/room and then cleaning it up. He would want me to give him a certain number of seconds and he would clean as fast as possible: we got into some silly ones, like Q seconds and door seconds.

I went out and took a few loads of cardboard to recycling and got August’s water bottle out of the car, where we left it. When I came back he had sorted his bed again: “Big things there, medium things, and small things.” He had sorted his room like Peg + Cat sort their room in an episode that is all about sorting.

Carly went downstairs and did some work and I put together the drawers while he watched Peg + Cat on his bed. I got him some dried cheerios, then some more, then some apple. About 3:40 we went down to get more apple. Carly made a mango smoothie and we read Pussy Cat Pussy Cat, But Not the Hippopotamus, Barnyard Dance, and Kiss Good Night, which reminded me that’s why I started to call his stuffed animals the ‘friends’.

He went to the bathroom and was saying things like “You’re the poop and pee again saying ‘We don’t want to be in the toilet…I think I’m done.” We went downstairs and made a house of Duplos. He said he loved purple more than pink now. I asked if he loved mama more than purple. He said “I love mama more than any color” Which sounded very sincere and emphatic until he added “I think so, yeah.” I didn’t ask about myself. They then nursed and read a bunch of 26-Story Treehouse. I took over and read more with him. He then wanted to play with Peter Rabbit and do the puzzle.

Carly Skyped with Cherie and Chuck as she made the soy chicken. August at first didn’t want to skype, but then changed his mind and did a fair amount of talking. We then did the full Peter Rabbit puzzle before he took it apart this time, then he watered the indoor plants. We went outside to water, then came in and ate the soy chicken for dinner. He and Carly then read the Willy;s Stories book. She asked him”What’s your favorite thing in the house?” He answered “All our stuff from Korea.” We all went outside to sweep and water flowers.

Carly took him up for a shower, and I went in to finish the hairwashing. He was then being a squirrel on the bed. The squirrel was getting hurt, and as usual he would describe a video of the animal getting hurt (which comes straight from the Animal Hospital app). His story was more elaborate this time, actually explaining who took the video: “It’s a video a worker made…The yard where I get nuts…The worker lives there. He made a machine that gives me nuts when I’m out of nuts.”

The baby squirrel then kept peeing in its nest, I think because it was too lazy to leave it: “I peed in a machine that takes the pee to a polluted stream…You’re the pee saying…You’re 2079 viruses…”

We read The Wind Blew twice. I got him some apple and he ate a few slices. He then forgot about the bowl on the bed and was jumping around and landed his face/head on it. Luckily not hard, but brought an end to the playing. Tried for sleep at 8:10 but didn’t work. He mainly followed Carly around while she got ready for bed and did some stuff, then they tried again and he was asleep by 8:40.

Appolonia: 

Home. Rocket with flowers: 

Reading: 

Curled up: 

He got up at 7 while I was in the shower. We were out the door quick, at 7:35. We headed over to Poleg Beach, the beach on the Mediterranean due west of us, but which we hadn’t yet been to. Along the way he was a machine that was turning the engine.

I drove this morning. We parked and were walking in through the bamboo village area. Carly went to the bathroom and August was fine, having fun, as we kept walking. I told him to wait, and then he got upset when he realized mama wasn’t with us. We walked down to the beach, then headed to the left (south). Went a quarter mile or so, then set our stuff down. There were huge raking lines across the beach – perhaps they rake it to get out garbage, etc.? As we walked he was drawing a road with his toe, then breaking up clumps. When we stopped they made sandcastles for the first time with our bucket set. Mainly Carly made them and he destroyed them. Often he was a machine that was breaking down and lifted the top off of them as a result. We watched a man go in the water next to us and work his way past the waves with his paddle board, then watched him out on the water. There were also surfers and sailboats to watch, then the paraglider things with motors on them. The ones farther north that August and I have seen were motorless.

August walked down to the water several times to wash off his hands. Didn’t really get the looking left and right thing, and ran right in front of a few people. He had quite the dramatic response to Carly trying to put on sunscreen: “You’re not nice to me. You’re not nice to me anymore.” Finally, he was pretending to be a plant broken in storm.

It was getting warmer and sunnier (there had been clouds earlier) and I felt like going in the water. We walked back north and went to the bathroom and I changed. We then found a spot at the lifeguard area and Carly and I took turns going out in the water. A bit stronger here than at the beach farther north. August put his feet under the sand and pretended to be a crab, pinching me. I got him to take his shirt off. He had his other swimsuit on and it was coming down. He said “I feel half naked.” He saw a dad and two bigger kids burying themselves in sand near us, so we buried my legs. He wasn’t into doing it himself. I got him to wade in the water just a little bit.

About 11 we went to wash off at the faucets, but the faucets didn’t work, just the big showers he’s afraid of. So I used my water bottle to wash off his hands and feet. He then walked right back into the sand, luckily not getting too sandy before I got him back on the boardwalk.

At home he stayed out and killed weeds. All of them along the edge of the house. Had intended to keep some of them, but that’s okay. He’s excited about planting seeds. Inside he and Carly read part of Merry Christmas, Amelia Bedelia. Carly tried feeding him some quiche with not much luck. They then had a banana smoothie and I took a shower. He was then pretending to be a squirrel, and still not eating quiche: “Squirrels doesn’t eat quiche…I just want to eat acorns from now on.” And the squirrel was sick: “Youre being 177 mold growing in baby squirrel’s lungs and digestive system and blood.” He was doing a lot of resting on the couch as a squirrel and seemed to be a bit sleepy. He sang a nice “new nah nee nah nee” song.

I did a couple of loads of cardboard to recycling, then we all got going and went to the big Tiv Taam, which was really busy. He was upset when he found out we weren’t getting a cart. Made it through shopping though, and did an excellent job of being a crane to help put things on the conveyor belt. I tried to give him the last item, which was small, but he refused, saying the crane only picks up heavy things.

On the way home we stopped at the grocery store in Tel Yitzhak to get some hangers as they didn’t have them at Tiv Taam. We were also working on some Hebrew.

We were home at 4. He played some Dragonbox Big Numbers and Carly went upstairs and was doing some work. We went outside and did some watering, and he spilled the dirt out of the pot that had had the mystery seed. He went down the slide for the first time since I taped it up weeks ago, and he talked about how he liked to see cat poop.

We were back inside after 6. I had said something about getting some food (Carly had rice and zucchini and mushrooms). He said “You have to go inside. Sorry, we don’t have a barbecue.” As we walked in he said “Smells so good!” We read The Grouchy Ladybug while food cooked. He ate a bunch of mushrooms, but then said he was too full for rice. We read After the Storm, then Carly gave him a bath. They tried for bed at 7:15. He came back down and I got him some apple. We then read Biscuit Meets the Class Pet, Kipper A to Z, Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?, and  Pussy Cat Pussy Cat (a few times). He went back up and was asleep by 8:15.

Photos: 

He was up at 6. Carly made them oatmeal for breakfast and they read part of A Busy Year. I came down a little later as he sat down to eat. Carly had hung Peter’s photos on the wall and he looked up and said “That’s mama and Dada” As the photo of me and Carly at a Mexican restaurant in Portland was in front of him. As he ate he said “Can you be the stomach acid…The food ‘It hurts! It hurts! when you eat me!”

We read half of Welcome to the Symphony before he turned into a spider jumping around on the floor and getting dead ants. That didn’t come from nowhere: the other day we found a small spider living in the roll of paper and below it were about ten dead ants.  Nursed and finished Welfome to the Symphony. He was really curious as to why you don’t clap between movements. We then read part off Go Dog Go! He kept wanting to go back to the engine part where a dog is fixing a car. I asked how his mouth is doing and he said it was a secret. He appears to have a bruise on his left cheek.

“Can you count how many pillows are on the couch counting by 160s?” He then chatted about pillows here and what was in Korea. He was then feeling the inside of Carly’s computer case and taking about the texture of his hand and feel backwards and bonked his head a bit on the table again. “I want honey bear to make the head feel better…I likes honey bear when I bonk my head.”

He went on a short walk with Carly to recycling. She said he whined on the way there and she had to carry him back. Watched one episode of Puffin Rock, then nursed. He kept talking about nectars and flowers. The ants have returned to the house, so we dealt with them a couple times. Carly tried a lot more of the borax outside. We had some quiche, then he wanted to play the “Is this Kayla?” game. Then there was an animal pooping everywhere, and a machine going fast. And at one point he told me “You ring a bell and say ‘Time for an adventure!’” Don’t know where that came from.

He played with Peter Rabbit and wanted to do the puzzle, but we were trying to leave. I taught him 1, 2, 3 in Hebrew, which he picked up pretty quickly. I suggested he take Peter Rabbit to show him Israel. He started showing him around: “bamboo house…Circles…” That refers to our house, which he calls the bamboo house, and the metal circles on the walls, which he likes. And he asked “Peter Rabbit, why were you locked in the dark?” Referring to his time in the boxes, which I had mentioned earlier. He was also pretending to dig and said”Out house is getting damaged with storms so we’re making a new house here.”

We left by 11:30 and headed up 4 to Park Italia on Alexander Stream. We parked and found a path along the stream and followed it west. It went under a bridge with some interesting art, through a grass field where there were a lot of dragonflies, then across a bridge, where it stopped at a closed park. The trail continues on west on the north side, and we’ll head back sometime when it isn’t so hot. We walked back and stopped where the trail goes under the bridge. August played there for quite awhile: pulling seeds of of weeds and making them dirty, pulling up the weeds, finding interesting things on the ground, etc. Also had some snack. We were there for over half an hour, then at 12:50 Carly mentioned going home. Another family had just started to walk under the bridge from the other direction and August said “Lets get going. There’s those kids trying to steal our food.”

We decided to go check on the Technoda science center since its Facebook page said it was open today. As we got driving August spotted another big flock of big birds out the window. He said “A whole dance together before bedtime” remembering the starlings in Puffin Rock. The science center was closed, so we went to the Habanim Garden park nearby with a really big playground.

On our walk from the car there was a someone playing a shofar horn across the street. Played there awhile, with him going down a green slide a couple times, and asking Carly to come up and play with him on the structure. Also went on a couple of teeter totter sort of things.

We left about 2:00. August said “Let’s just head home and dip apples in honey. Mama says there’s two more apples left.” Carly and I had been talking about the apples and honey but August was playing and I was surprised that he had been listening to all of it.

Carly drove, and on the way August looked at Waze with me, trying to understand the map and directions, but also excited every time it looked like our little blue car ran over one of the little characters representing other drivers. Getting into Kfer Netter, I spotted a big animal like a ferret on a rock. Carly drove back and it turned out it was dead.

At home, August and I worked on the Peter Rabbit puzzle with Peter Rabbit. We paused with 8 pieces left as he wanted apple and honey. He did a little honey dance, then enjoyed dipping apples in honey. He ate all his pieces, then left the last bite. Then, I was making a late lunch and did a small pizza and again he left the very last bite. I also made onion rings and roasted cauliflower. He played Big Dragonbox Numbers. We were acting out being the rocks and pieces of gold in the game, not wanting to be found and put in a bag. He said “I don’t know the buzz dance.” Upstairs, he started singing a “You can do Orchard” song to Carly, meaning he wanted to play the Orchard game on his iPad. But it was interesting because it was a kind of slow, high voice and tune, different from his usual. I worked on boxes and stuff upstairs, and they painted for quite awhile using one of the boxes as their canvas.

We went for a walk at 6. He was on the tricycle. Up past recycling Carly asked if he wanted to go right or left and he chose left so he could run over the berries on the ground. We saw people out and about for Rosh Hashana, including a man carrying a horn. He saw a pomegranate on the ground and sang a pomegranate song. He was also talking like the voice on Waze, which he has heard a lot in the car: “In 260 meters turn left. You’re home.”

We were home at 6:20. He stayed outside and killed some weeds. When he came in he asked “I got my hands dirty from the weed killing, so can I go on the carpet?” We read 26-Story Treehouse. After the part about the boy stealing food from the restaurant, August started a game of catching his friend or neighbor stealing from that restaurant. I gave him a shower. He said he was hungry, so downstairs he ate a little quiche, but not much. Took him up and Carly put him to sleep at 7:20.

Along the stream: 

Under the bridge: 

Park: 

Home: 

At the stream: 

Dead animal: 

Home: 

Peter Rabbit puzzle: 

Apple and honey: 

Evening walk: 

He was up at 6:25. One of the first things he said was “I want to play my piano downstairs.” But he then lay on and hung out on the bed until after 6:40. He was asking Carly for something and said “You don’t say finesy minesy ever again.” He did fine without a diaper through the night, although when we pointed that out he said he likes diapers. They went to the bathroom, then headed downstairs. I headed down a few minutes later.

Downstairs we played xylophone and piano and listened to Sentimental Wars on repeat. He then played Dragonbox Little Numbers. He has gotten farther in the arcade mode, and is now figuring out how to adde numbers to ten. I was trying to empty book boxes but wasn’t having much luck as he kept wanting me to see things or help him. But I can see a lot of improvement in his math. He asked Carly to fill up his water bottle: “Mama, can you fill up the water bottle for the flower?” He was being a flower from dance class yesterday.

I hung up our Buddhist lanterns outside the kitchen, then went up and took a shower. Carly made him a mango smoothie, then he played more piano with me. He then opened the doctor kit and we used it, mainly on Green Monster. Carly and I were talking about going to Jaffa today to do some shopping, walking, and sightseeing, so I was looking at Google Maps and he got involved. He lamented not going on bus rides: “I just love bus rides!” At one point Carly was having trouble getting moving and said “I can get going.” August told her “By yourself!” He wasn’t excited by going on an adventure. He and I read The Pigeon Finds a Hotdog, then we all got going after 10.

Once we were in the car and going though he was fine, and mainly looked out the window. We stopped by the closest gas station, but found out that the discount diplomatic gas cards that we now have only work at one specific chain of gas station, Paz. Which is a little inconvenient, but luckily there was one just off highway 2 on our way south.

We parked at the parking lot closest to the Jaffa Flea Market, then proceeded to walk around. We got an embroidered square cloth, about 3 feet by 3 feet, with flowers on it, for 300 shekels. More walking around and we got a bunch of small square pillow cases for decorating purposes and a ceramic hamsa. When August wanted another slice of apple he would poke his head out backwards through the hole between the back of the stroller and the sun cover. We then walked northwest, towards the coast. We saw a mosque and then walked up a hill to a viewpoint that Carly had seen when she was here in a bus. We stopped by the cannons and listened to a call to prayer that was coming from another mosque in front of us.

We walked a bit further and found a bathroom and they went in. We then, about 12:50, went across the street and past St. Peter’s church and found a small snack place and got a strawberry and coffee iced drinks and sat out in the square and drank them. August and I read a few of the books which we had brought along for the car, but that I’d forgotten to take out of the backpack: Suddenly!, Happy Birthday, and something else. The strawberry slushee was really sweet and he said “160 sugar!” 160 is his new favorite number. And he got up from his chair once: “I’m gonna go back to the sun and open my mouth to warm up my mouth!”

Carly went back up to the guy to pay after I reminded her we hadn’t paid. He’d forgotten as well and wondered why she was giving him money. Carly and August went back to the bathroom and I looked around the square. There was an art studio across from us that looked really interesting (http://www.ilanadar.com) but when we tried to go in it was closed. A sculptor by the name of Matanya Abramson had his studio there.

We walked across the Wishing Bridge and through the parks up on the hill, over the zodiac bridge and then down the north side of the hill and back through the flea market area, which was now deserted, having closed at 2 as tomorrow is a holiday. We got to the car and left at 2:15.

Vivian skyped us while on the drive back, and we skyped with them for a few minutes as Carly drove. We went straight to the Tiv Taam at the mall and did some shopping. Everything went well until August wanted to go to the treats section. At first this was really funny, as I pretended to not know what he was talking about and he was laughing and wanted to show me. But then he saw a Hello Kitty candy on a stick thing and got upset when I said he couldn’t have it. He wasn’t satisfied by the reminder that there were popsicles at home, or that we were also buying honey bread for Rosh Ha’shana and he was excited about that.

At home Carly started hanging things up, and at some point asked August “Do you like our house?” and he said “Yeah”. Carly Skyped with her parents, and after awhile went upstairs. August and I read Tacky, then played Big Dragonbox Numbers.

When Carly came back down I made quiche. A zucchini quiche this time. They went for a walk to the southwest for awhile and watched people go to synagogue. When they got back there was still 20 or so minutes left until the quiche was done, so Carly fried up some mushrooms and zucchini with rice and cheese for his dinner.

We played piano and he was humming along to “Sentimental Wars”, then was being my doctor, giving me a shot with “too much medicine” in it. He then climbed on the couch and had his hands on the coffee table and feet on the couch, facing the ceiling. I got up to go get him off, but in the time I took to walk over to him he had tried going on the side of it (the other part of the L shape of the couch), doing the same thing and fell, hitting his cheek and mouth on the edge of the coffee table.

There was blood, but not a lot. Seemed to be his lip, although he wouldn’t let us look. We got him upstairs, and Carly eventually got him to nurse a bit, but mainly he was upset. She ended up rocking him to sleep as she sat on the bed, something she hasn’t done in a long, long time. It was about 7:40.

Photos. A shot for Green Monster:

In Jaffa: 

Strawberry drink: 

Across the Wishing Bridge: 

Sign: 

Treate at Tiv Taam: 

Blood and bruise from his fall: 

He woke up a little before 6 and lay in bed, talking about his head screws being loose. Got up with Carly at 6 and she got him some banana bread. I was up a few minutes later. He asked to play Space as he says it is a nighttime app. He has started counting backwards from 10 on his own now. Carly went to work and he wanted some Cheerios on the couch. I gave him the multigrain kind, which Carly had gotten as we suddenly can’t find regular Cheerios. He said “Sugar Cheerios…Why’d she even get those kind? Silly mama!” He played a lot of Big Dragonbox Numbers, then he went to the bathroom and I took a shower – a lot of Big Dragonbox Numbers talk going on as we did so.

He was then being machines. They were going up to the attic and checking on the hot pipes, which were getting ants on them. Back downstairs the machines morphed into an elevator going up to the attic, then he said I dropped my phone down the crack (something I had mentioned at the mall as  happening to someone I knew). There was then a baby that kept dropping things down and the elevator had a tube that would give them right back. At one point he said to Bluie “You’re my best friend. Let’s get away from this elevator.” And he had a machine:”It needs a lot of bad chemicals and sprays out lots of oxygen!”

Our shipment from Korea was supposed to arrive between 10 and 1. A little before noon they called to say they’d be here in about an hour. After the call August asked “Were you taking to Steve?…And is IHerb coming tomorrow?” By ‘Steve’ he means ‘Eve’, the maintenance guy for the school. We read the book Tacky, about a penguin, twice, then watched some Peg + Cat. We found some ants and took care of them with him spraying cleaner for me. He was then a baby squirrel that I was taking care of. I used a funny doctor voice or something and he didn’t like it; he wanted the “dada voice” instead. He was then drinking his water, and wanted gravity upset that he was drinking the water up. He told gravity “Gravity! Suction pulls things up!”

Then, a slightly disturbing game in which he wanted pain (kind of like germs or viruses) to be put in the baby squirrel. And gravity was pulling him down. We found ants by the sliding door, then read part of 26-Story Treehouse. Getting closer to the end, although he keeps wanting to go back and read chapter 6 about Edward Scooperhands.

We then did the baby dropping things down the elevator crack again, and I was pretending I couldn’t see him in the dark and thought he was other people: Kayla, Vivian, Colin, Thatcher, etc. Talking about our stuff that was supposed to arrive, I mentioned Peter Rabbit. He said “And puzzles? We put the puzzle together with Peter Rabbit?” Cool that he remembers that. He was then Peter Rabbit taking my carrots when I planted them. He then pretended to be a rabbit with pets of its own:”The rabbit’s Guinean pigs. They pooped in my burrow. Yeah. They do that when they have to poop and pee…” And “My poop machine is making more mice. Yep. That’s what a poop machine does. It makes mice out of poop…snails out of bricks…”

Our stuff arrived about 1:15. They were quick and efficient, getting all 26 boxes inside in 15 minutes or so, then leaving quickly. We started opening a few boxes up. I took a few things upstairs but he poured on the charm to keep me downstairs: “But I love you so much. Just stay downstairs forever. With me.”

About 2:30 we headed to school. Carly had found out about a dance class he could go to, a few minutes north of school, and it was today at 4:30. So August and I first sat in the couches by the ping pong table and had a snack, then we went swimming. It has cooled off to the mid-80s, and suddenly the water seemed quite chilly to both August and I as we got in. August liked watching the swim lessons that were going on. We swam until close to 4, then changed and met Carly at the gate just after 4:10. The iHerb order had arrived, so we had that big box as well.

We drove up to the house that had a dance studio in the basement. A nice setup. On the way he had some of the sugar Cheerios and told her “Sugar Cheerios are sweet, seeet, sweet. And I love sweet things!”

This was the first dance class of the session, and parents could sit to the side. Next time we are supposed to wait outside. August did quite well, although after 15 or 20 minutes he did start going to Carly a few times. The teacher knows English, and would occasionally say thing for August’s benefit in English, but much was in Hebrew. I think that makes it a little difficult for him to pay attention, although he generally tries to copy what the teacher does. They did a flower thing where they were flowers that he really liked. And they got scarves that they got to scoot around on, then use as beds/blankets as they did a nighttime/daytime sleep/wakeup thing. She turned the lights off for nighttime, but still had colored lights on. He was confused though: “But, when it’s night it’s black.” He interjected some of our games into it, being the earth turning around when it was nighttime.

After class he said he wanted to go again. Have to get confirmation on cost, but assuming it is reasonable we will sign him up. Happy that we found a place that accepts boys. Both the community center and another place I found say that the 3/4 year old dance classes are just for girls. There are English ballet classes in north Tel Aviv but they don’t have classes until 4 years old.

We were home at 5:30. He plated on the Teeter totter and looked at plants. The mystery seed didn’t grow, and he kept saying “I give up.” He also did a “I give up” song earlier today when he gave up on a math problem, I think.

We had some dinner, him the last of the quiche, then he nursed and they read Suddenly! He read more of it with me. Then I took him up and gave him a shower, washing his hair. Back downstairs he wanted me to play a new song on the piano, and I pulled up “Sentimental Wars” on the iPhone and figured it out, with him sitting in my lap. We listened to it on repeat many times. We also listened to OMD’s “Electricity” and he banged away on the piano to it. Next was Tori Amos’s “Breakaway”: “I think we can learn this song cuz it’s so slow.”

With Carly on the couch he said “I love you so much.” “I love you a ton of Qs…cupcakes…honeycombs…punches…” Those are all things from Dragonbox Big Numbers. He was feeling a bit itchy, so Carly suggested he try sleeping without a diaper for the first time. He was asleep at 8:15.

Cuddling with me as a baby squirrel: 

Bluie and Green Monster: 

All our boxes: 

A snack: 

Pool: 

Dance class: 

Piano: 

He got up right before 6. I told him to lie back down. But he said “Go downstairs.” Carly heard and came in and patent about twenty minutes with him before they came down. He sat down and as a crane handed me Du Iz Tak? We read that and noticed the changing of the mushroom and grass this time, then he and Carly did the Hokey Pokey. We started to read the book again but Carly got him cereal and he went to eat that. He was being a caterpillar in a cocoon when Carly was ready to leave and she had to first watch him become a butterfly. After she left we were butterflies being eaten by birds for awhile, then he played with the chalk. He wanted to “dissolve” some in water, but I suggested food coloring instead. He had fun with food coloring and asked what I meant by ‘opposite’ colors. So we looked at color wheels. He had some food coloring on one of his hands and talked about his hands: “This hand is for playing and eating; this hand is for picking things up.” He then wanted to play Big Dragonbox Numbers. He was rather obsessed with that game all day, even turning a lot of our pretend play into Big Dragonbox Numbers.

We went out to watch the garbage truck, and I had a shop: “Shop, you sell motors that don’t need a lot of power to work.” While playing the actual Big Dragonbox Numbers with him he was being a caterpillar and wanting me to do the math problems: “Dada, can you do a bee math problem while the caterpillar turns into a butterfly?”

We went outside and did watering, etc. and back inside played the Orchard game, then he watched Wanda and the Alien and I went and took a shower. We then made banana bread together, and spent the whole time discussing Big Dragonbox Numbers. While it baked we ended up on the rug in front of the air conditioner. He lay on my chest and kept discussing Big Dragonbox Numbers. That was quite fun.

He was getting hungry. Looked in the fridge and he saw the new cartons of milk, one of which had robots on it: “Can I try the robot flavor?” We pretended it tasted like motor oil. While he drank that I cooked mushrooms and made pizza and put that in when the banana bread was done. He had an ice cream shop and accused me of stealing ice cream, so the police got me in trouble. And then he watched the Peg + Cat sorting episode.

We ate pizza and banana bread for lunch. He wanted to go do recycling, but was then sorting ice cream, and a worm sorting dirt. Then played lots of sick baby squirrel game – sometimes with a machine in it and with elements of Dragonbox Big Numbers mixed in. He rode his bike a bit in the house and sang along to “Sentimental Wars”. I went out and moved the car seats and cleaned the one we borrowed: “I got crumbs in that car seat when I ate crackers in the car…Does Cassie like clean things?”

Then back to Dragonbox Big Numbers. I was playing his Zinnie Songs playlist and he was singing along to “Somebody come and play” and then a couple of the Poli English songs, one of which was about crossing the street. When a rock song came on he said “I can’t sing along to this one…I can’t talk along to this one…I love the traffic one.” So we went back to that song and played it a couple of more sounds.

Then, before we left he was a machine: “It sprays out chemicals that changes the sounds.” He was then humming the tune to one of the Poli songs, but changing the sound to it. Then he was a machine that changed the color of traffic lights, so that yellow meant stop, etc.

We got out the door and he was playing with the stroller and tripped down the stair, taking the stroller with him. He curled up on his stomach and I went and picked him up. He was okay: “The machine is breaking down.” “The crane is picking up the machine.” He then played in the yard and got the stick things from the swings and broke them: “I’m just making more work for mama when she gets home.” He got on the teeter totter on his own and was riding fast – the weight was starting to tip up so I had to hold the other end.

We finally left at 2:30. Got to the school and parked outside. Went in, taking the car seat to Carly’s room, but found Cassie first. Then Carly came from the other direction. August gave air high fives to Cassie. Holly then found us and so did Grace, who gave him a high five. He said hello to another student who said “Hi, August!” But when Dudley said hi August said his voice part was broken. We went and did can recycling, then headed back to the library. We had planned on going swimming, but he wanted to go to the library. On the way he said “I’m a machine that makes librarians think you can play in libraries longer than ever.” I assured him that the library wasn’t closing early today, that it just closes early on Fridays. At the library we went back and got a bunch of books. Went to the stuffed animals and read The Mr. Fix-It Man, That’s How! (twice), Maisy Goes to Preschool, and How Scary! Who scares who from one to ten? We then read the Fix-It man book again. He went to the bathroom, then was running back and started to take an early right, as he often does, into the librarians’ office. He fell and get a bit of a rug burn on his knees – just enough to feel it. He was concerned about it, but didn’t get upset. In the toy corner he found a little plastic bee and we played a bee game for 10 or 15 minutes. He or I would use the bee to go get nectar for the baby bees back in the nest.

At 4:30 we headed out and met Carly outside. We went to the car and drove to the community center. We went downstairs to the class and met the teachers. Pretty sure I’ve met one of them – works in one of the shops or something. August was a bit nervous/reluctant at first, but then when they started running in circles he joined in. He kept holding his shorts, even though they were folded over. The class was mainly in Hebrew, so Carly helped him out as well. At one point I heard him say something like “I’m wearing out my parts when I run.” There was some game involving hula hoops on the ground. Carly didn’t understand the explanation, but August was fine, as he made up his own game: “You go in the circles they BLOW UP!” And it was quite funny when they would run in circles and he would run the wrong direction. They played duck, duck, goose. August got to do it, in English. In this version you said colors and when you said ‘black’ that was the person that chased you. Finally, there was a big obstacle course path set up. Kind of like Teuni Teuni, but all wooden stuff; a little different from all the soft, padded stuff in Korea. And he said something like “my motor’s starting up and I’m not done yet.”

He really liked the class, but then the bad news: the guy had neglected to tell us the classes might be full. And quite full by the sound of it. Carly talked to the guy afterwards, then to a woman. August is on a waiting list. There is also a ballet class, but it is just for girls.

We got home a little before 6. We all had some quiche for dinner, then played some iPad. Carly started to take him up for his bath about 6:30. He decided to fight it today. So skipped the hair washing. He was still quite upset in bed until I started suggesting we do nonsense things, like go to the playground, or eat a ton of chocolate. He was asleep at 7.

Photos: 

Wanting me to play with him: 

Unhappy with the new car seat: 

On the library floor: 

He was up at 6:40 and asked “Mama downstairs?” He went down and I came down by 7. We read Du Is Tak? Then went out to check on his tomato seedlings. A fifth seed is now coming up. He put fresh water in the cat bowl. Back inside he said “Not much noise in here. Turn on some music.” He was hungry and requested the honey cereal. He and Carly nursed and read part of Berenstain Bears and Baby Makes Five. He and I read the ice cream chapter of 26-Story Treehouse. He told Carly he didn’t want egg, but changed his mind when he smelled hers. He sang a “Ketchup is my best” song to the Bluie Dance tune. We played the Pip and Pop game. He had a new machine: “It’s a machine that makes new mice out of owl pellets.” Carly was then tickling him when he said he wanted to nurse and I joined in. Finally, in the bathroom he joked “I think they’re airport Megan’s toilet paper rolls.” Don’t know where that idea came from.

We left right at 10. We first went to the community center near the school, where a man told us there were classes for August’s age Monday and Thursday and 4:45 and we could come see a class. We planned to go tomorrow.

We then headed over to the Ir Yamin Mall. We first went downstairs and to the baby store, where we tried out a couple of booster seats (August wasn’t too fond of the process) and I bought a pink-lidded snack container like our blue one. And Carly found a package of forks and spoons and we got that. We then walked down and Carly picked up her shoes. August and I looked at bikes at the toy store, then I found a balance bike for about 80 dollars. August went in the little padded play area and played around. A smaller boy came over and threw a ball back and forth with him a couple times. Before we left I also went and bought a bucket and shovel set for playing in the sand.

We headed home and were back at 12:20. We went and checked on the tomatoes. August said “Every time we leave and come back there’s more.” By the end of the day we had five sprouting up. He and I were putting together his bike and Carly was planning on going to the store. He didn’t like us talking and hit me quite hard. We took a break and Carly went to the store. Eventually he calmed down and we watched Peg + Cat. He was singing along to one of the songs. I heated up spaghetti and made the rest of the sweet potato fries for lunch. He then tried the bike out inside, then we went to recycling after 2.

As we walked he said “Dada, I made a machine that takes water to Holly’s house. It makes clean water out of dirt water and toilet water and poop water and pee water.” We first went and did cardboard. He threw away the big box from his balance bike while I held him up. When he got down down he held a finger. I asked if he had a paper cut and he said “No…Actually, yes I do.” He got sad and I picked him up. He wouldn’t show it to me, and it was a good ten or fifteen minutes before he stopped holding it. And that happened because he saw weeds in the cracks of the sidewalk. I said it was okay for him to kill the weeds. He started by just using his feet, while holding his finger, but eventually started reaching down and pulling them out.

We went in the actual playground and I sat on the circle swing and he rode his bike around. HE came over to me and we played around the swing, and he got on for awhile and I pushed him. All sorts of discussions. Out of nowhere he said: “Over time things get expensiver and expensiver…because the workers put in more money…the foods and drinks, dada…” Don’t have any idea where that came from. Maybe he’s been reading some Marx. Playing the ice cream game he said “Edward Scooperhands just scooped Dark Side of the Moon…I think it would be good because it’s rocky…” Dark Side of the Moon is actually a flavor listed in the 26-Story Treehouse book. But the rocky part would be a connection he made from the Space app.

We left at 3:10. He rode his bike home, taking a long time to get home. Mainly because he was being all sorts of machines, one of which killed weeds with power. At one point he pretended to eat mango and wanted me to be the mango tree not wanting to have my fruit eaten. He said to the mango tree: “That’s what fruit trees and carrot trees are for, picking to eat, mango tree! Then I eat it and it turns to poop and it goes to my poop machine and is made into new apple trees!” He also said “Could you be that cigarette butt about to go boom when I run over it?” Several times he said “We’re almost home!” When we weren’t, really. Finally, I suggested I push him and he pick up his feet and I showed him what it would feel like to ride faster.

We were home at 3:20. Carly had gone back to the mall and bought the booster seat we had thought about. She had then gone to the grocery store at Tel Yitzhak, which we hadn’t been to yet. She then stopped by the nursery, which is across the street from it and bought a big pot and two bunches of a pink flowering plant to put in it and a small pot and (as August called it) “interesting plant” to go inside on the big table. August told her about riding his bike: “Dada showed me how I could go fast…I picked up my feet and we goed fast.” And he told her he didn’t wear a helmet.

He said “I need to play Big Dragonbox Nimbers. Get some stone.” He remembered that well as that was his plan before we left. But he was convinced to go outside to plant the new flowers, at least for a couple minutes, then came in and played it. He then switched to the grotto and the queens game. He wanted to nurse and I was keeping him from nursing. I said it was because I loved him and he said “I love mama the most cuz she bought those flowers.” And “But mama loves me so much I think if you grab me and don’t take me to mama, she’ll cry.”

I made quiche and Carly mopped the patio. August played iPad outside, then came in and was being Pip and Pop on his own. Eventually he got me involved and they were sick. Carly got ready for a walk. August was being crazy, then was being a snail, then a slug.

They went for walk 5:45. When they got to the corner there was a sunny spot and Carly asked “Are you going to be okay without you sunglasses?” He replied “Well, still kind of sunny.” So they had to come back for them. They just walked around a couple blocks while the quiche finished cooking and were home at 6.

He had quiche for dinner and said he loved it. He went to get a drink and dramatically said “I’m thirsty and my hands are really dirty and my water is WAY on the carpet.” He thanked Carly for cutting up his quiche and she told him to thank me for the quiche: “Thank you, mama…thank you, dada.” And it said it was “WAY yummier than Cheerios.” after I said he was making yummy noises like when he eats Cheerios.

Carly let him have a treat after dinner – some of the chocolate cookies. But he got upset when he didn’t get to choose any of it. We then read 26-Story Treehouse and got to chapter 11 before switching to the sick squirrel game. He had the viruses getting in trouble and going to prison, so then he was asking what prison was really like.

We Skyped with my parents – he was being machines (water bottles and baby bottles – said they could have one) and getting crazy. Wanted to show them his new Maine shirt so we went up and he showed them both of his Maine shirts. He was focusing on sending them emojis so wasn’t really answering questions, but when he heard us talking about the Dead Sea he spoke up and said the Dead Sea was warm and the salt stinged.

After we hung up he went to the bathroom. He asked “Can you be the poop wanting to be pooped out? Can you be the toilet paper going in the toilet?” Carly gave him a bath and we got him ready for bed. He was asleep by 8:50.

Trying out carseats: 

Adjusting the seat: 

Not showing me his finger when he has a paper cut: 

Riding home: 

Helping plant: 

It was our first family day in Tel Aviv. Carly had been to the city for a couple of work things, but it was the first time August and I had gone. Even though I only saw it for a few hours, first impressions are quite positive: It feels much more comfortable and artsy compared to Netanya, which is sterile by comparison.

He and Carly got up at 6:20 after he had been nursing, then just lying on the bed for awhile. I got up twenty minutes later and they were reading 26-Story Treehouse. When he saw me he got up, went and got his water bottle, and told me to fill it up. August got silly pretending to be Edward Scooperhands, the ice cream scooping robot in the book: “Wood, hair, dogfish, skin, blood, germ ice cream”

We read more 26-Story Treehouse, reading the ice cream part, but then reading a couple stories we haven’t yet read. He was hungry so I got him some of the Honeg Bunches of Oats, our new cereal. After he was done he said “I should go to dada.” I suggested we do more reading. He asked “Is reading or eating or cleaning all I can do right now?”

We played the Edward Scooperhands game and he asked for mango, cleaner, cardboard, and water bottle flavors. We read more of the book, then moved to the squirrel game. He got Carly involved, getting her put in prison for waking up the squirrel. He let her have her coffee though: “Police, don’t take her coffee.” He was then the shrew crew, Baba, and Flynne: “I’m going to destroy my lair, I’d you don’t mind.”

Carly was getting ready to take him out for a walk. I suggested he try his red sunglasses again as his white ones are getting rather scratched. He rejected them. They took recycling and went for a walk at 9:20. I took a shower. They went up to the playground on the right as we walk up to town. They were back at 10:25. He saw the air conditioner and said “I left the air conditioner on.” He wanted to nurse but didn’t like that she was sweaty: “Don’t be gross!”

We went outside to give cats water. There were now 3 tomato plants. And I noticed it had rained while we were gone: there was still water on a plastic bag of soil, dirt that the ants had dug up on the patio was crusted on, and there was a circle around the top of the table. So we missed our only shot at rain so far in Israel, probably while it was 100 or so where we were. Anyway, he played with the sap, finding where it was squishy and where it wasn’t, then putting holes in it. We speculated on it getting bigger and bigger: “What happens if the sap takes over our yard?”

Carly baked one more batch of spaghetti for lunch. Then he played the Edward Scooperhands game with Carly: “Hands into scooping mode!” They read Curious George Goes to the Hospital. Or most of it: Every time they read he wants to nurse before they finish a book. I then read bits of Every Thing On It to him and he watched Peg + Cat, then looked at Google Maps. He then played the Orchard game. I wasn’t doing anything, and he said “You’re so funny dada… You’re so funny bird…Oh bird.” When the bird got close to him (it steals all your fruit if it gets too close) he had me build a nest for him to hide in as we made the last couple moves. Totally something that he gets from Carly.

We got going and left at 1:15, with Carly driving. He was hungry and had some pretzels that Carly had bought. They were round. He asked “How’d you make the pretzels mama? Did you use a cup?” That was a a Peg + Cat reference, where Cat makes a painting of circles and when asked how he did it he replies he used a cup. He asked “How are they so round?” even after we told him she had bought them. He didn’t believe it was a machine and thought that Carly had made the pretzels. We played the germ game and the Edward Scooperhands game – he remembers a lot of the flavors from the book. We arrived a little before 2.

We managed to find a parking garage, then walked west. We found a main commercial street in the Old North area. Most things were closed, of course, but there were a few places open and we were looking for a coffee shop. Found a falafel/kebab sort of place instead and decided to eat there, at הלבנטיני. We got the lamb kebab, which came with fries and pita and all of the sides (they do a lot of sides here, like in Korea, but we like most of them here), the roasted cauliflower, which was quite good, and a grape juice for August (although it was closer to a soda than a juice). We liked it all. August mainly ate the fries and the cauliflower.

We left there at 3:30 and continued west to Independence Park. There we first saw the mosquito statue, which I had previously found on Google Maps. August pretended to me a mosquito biting me. We then walked along the top of the cliffs. Carly asked if I thought he needed sunscreen. I said no but she put it on anyway. August asked “Why didn’t he want to protect my skin?” About 3:45 we found the playground.

Carly sat and read and I played with August. He tried some of the climbing things, or at least checked them out, then played on a slide, going down a few times and throwing his shoes down: “I wanted to slide them down. I can’t. It’s not slidey for shoes.” He then invented the gravity game, where I pulled him by the ankle and talked as if gravity wanted him down the slide: “Gravity wants me to always be on the ground?” “I don’t want to come down, gravity! I love to stay up.”

He then spotted a shop window area and went in to be a shopkeeper and decided it was a seed shop. I bought some seeds from him (he said they had raspberry, strawberry, blackberry, and a couple others), then asked him for advice on how to plant them and take care of them. He did pretty well. When I asked if I should water them with water or tea he said “Fresh water. No salt.” And when I asked if I should put them in the freezer or outside he said there wasn’t any sun in the freezer. It then turned into a tortilla store, but I refused to buy any tortillas because he said they were 100 dollars for ten of them (the seeds had been 14 dollars or so). Then it was a chocolate store, with samples. I said something about unicorns and he said “Unicorns? I think if it was a pet store…This is a pet store!”

Then, there were some other kids with a bubble gun and August joined in, chasing bubbles. He lost a shoe while doing it, but couldn’t pause long enough to put it back on and played the next ten minutes or so while holding a shoe in one hand. And at one point he was playing by himself, talking away, and I went over and pointed it out to Carly.

We headed back and were home by 6. He played with the pillows: “Perhaps I’ll block Bernie’s grotto.” He went outside with Carly for awhile, then read one chapter of 26-Story Treehouse (chapter 6, of course, with Edward Scooperhands). Ate some spaghetti, then Carly gave him a bath. On the bed he was a machine making things unless things got in him: air conditioner, light bulbs, water, too much power.

Earlier, at the restaurant, he had suddenly closed his eyes tight, then was eating with his eyes closed. Looked like something was bothering him but he didn’t say anything. I asked him why he had done that and he said “Bite-ed my tongue.” Think we were then joking about nursing with me, and he said “Boys turn into dadas; girls turn into mamas.” Don’t think we have explicitly laid it out like that, and asked if we had told him that or if he had figured it out. He said “Figured it out.” He was then asleep by 7:40.

Carly was up about 4:15 and left to go hike up the Snake Path with the kids and see the sunrise. August woke up at 5:50 and was quite upset. He was still sleepy and wanted to go back to sleep. It was still really dark and he didn’t understand it was morning: “I want to call mama! Mama’s never coming back? She’s staying up all night? I’m sleepy! I don’t want to sleep with dada!” He settled down a couple times and we watched the sunrise out the window with him resting on my shoulder. But then he would get upset again. He directed me to the bathroom so he could go while he was still upset.

Finally, about 6:15 he calmed down for good and decided to read The 26-Story Treehouse. We read four chapters then stopped for a cookie, then read chapter 5. He said “Every page we go on I want another cookie.” I let him have one more cookie after another chapter. He ate part of it hand held it up and said “It’s a U.” He also wanted me to be the cookie not wanting to be eaten. I convinced it it was yummy and then it was happy with being eaten. He then switched into squirrel mode and said “Sorry Dada squirrel, I need the ice cream part.” So we read chapter 6 of the book, which has the ice cream part. We played some squirrel game and were resting. He then played Sarah and Duck Sleepover and I rested, then watched Sarah and Duck while I took a shower and cleaned and packed.

I commented that his sunglasses were etting pretty scratched up and we should buy new ones. He said “No. Or find some people have lost…I want to do that.” Carly’s group was running a little later than planned and were waiting for a cable car down. So August and I went up to breakfast. As we went up the stairs he sang a “Up to the sky” song. We got cereal and a variety of other things for breakfast. We beat the students there so I could also get to the coffee machine. We ate breakfast at a table by the windows with a view of the Dead Sea. Carly got there, then went with us back to the room after breakfast. But he didn’t nurse at all because Carly was sweaty after the hike: “Are you gross?”

We played more baby squirrel game in the room (he made up a “bumpadee” song) and then left at 9:30. We drove up to the visitor’s center this time as we were in a hurry. He was impatient with the ticket line not moving and started to point at and tell the people in front of us to “Go faster!” and I had to threaten to get out of line. He was being a price machine and putting price stickers on everyone and everything: “It cost 17” I asked what it was and he said “wine glass. Will you buy it?” He was then saying “Price, price, price…” as he put stickers on everything. I put a sticker on him and asked how much he cost. He said “14. Cuz that’s still my favorite number.”

We were some of the first people on the cable car and he got to look right out the front. He loved the trip up, and we got a great view of the path that Carly had been on earlier. Up at the top we took a few minutes looking out at the view, then got going inside Masada. He started on up the stairs and then we stopped at a bench to look at the big map model. Initially I was carrying him around. He did okay for awhile, looking in the storerooms. He then sat in the sand and was playing in it, pretending to bury and dig up cat poop. He wanted me to pretend to touch it, then to smell it, which I said no to.

We continued on to the northern fortress and he was starting to get impatient and wanted to go back down. But Carly had told us about a model of the water system so we needed to at least find that, and I wanted to see the western side where the Roman path had been built. I put him in the backpack and he did better after that. We found the water model and he got down to pour water in that and watch it go down the paths into the holes. We talked about how that was actually a model of the mountain, and sort of looked at how the hills corresponded to the map.

An odd moment was when I heard music playing and realized that there was music playing at a stage area. It was The Bloodhound Gang’s “Bad Touch” with the lines “You and me baby ain’t nothing but mammals, so let’s do it like they do on the Discovery Channel”. An odd song to hear playing in a place where you’re not even allowed (according to Lonely Planet) to eat.

Carly called to tell me they were leaving early. I had hoped to follow the busses back, so this wasn’t happy news. August was ready to head down the cable car anyway, so we hurried over and caught the cable car down. By the time we got down, found the elevator, got in our car, opened the gate of the hostel, parked, went in and used the bathroom, got our bags from behind the counter, and got going they had been gone for about 20 minutes. Carly said they were stopping somewhere along the way, but I figured that wouldn’t be soon and there was no reason to try to follow them.

So when Waze suggested a slightly different route on the way home that ran a little farther north than highway 1 I decided to take it. It took 90 north, then 1, but the veered to the north on 437, went through a checkpoint and across to 50, then up to 443 and on to 4 and home.

At one point along the Dead Sea, stuck behind a line of slow traffic anyway, I pulled over at a viewpoint to have a good look at the Dead Sea and get August a snack. We then continued on, and I saw some big caves in the cliffs to my left, a bunch of actual sinkholes to the right, and a sign for “An old cemitery (sic)”. Will have to check that one out next time we are in the area. It reminded me of when Carly and I were in England and we saw a sign for ‘Ancient Castle’ and had to go check it out.

The 437/50/443 route was certainly interesting, as I saw two boys riding a donkey, a cement factory (or something of the sort), two Israeli soldiers in full gear standing next to the husk of a burned out car, two checkpoints, and big sections of the wall.

August for his part, had been talking about falling asleep before we left the hostel, telling me that he was still going to be sleeping when we got home. The reality was different: he watched some shows and played on the iPad. At one point he stopped playing, and sort of hugged it and closed his eyes for a few minutes but didn’t fall asleep. He said he was done with the iPad and went without it for 30 or 40 minutes. He closed his eyes a few times, but didn’t go to sleep. Instead, he kept asking “Are we to our street yet?” He started to get frustrated, especially when we got on 4 and traffic slowed down. So I gave him the iPad back.

We got home at 2:15. We played the baby bee game, with dada bee bringing nectar for the baby bee. And: “Can you say ‘I want some honey to make my blueberry honey cake?’” “I have a cup of honey you can use for your blueberry honey cake!” He described an elaborate cake with all sorts of fruits on it, but then said “It burned and caught on fire then exploded.” I cooked a couple of the okara patties and he ate one with ketchup, then we went back to the bee game, only this time he wanted the police to get people in trouble for waking up the baby bee. We went out and checked on the tomato plants: he was shocked to find two plants growing, then a black cat ran out from under the wooden stand. Then August reached for the watering can and tipped it over and broke it. An exciting minute. The cat just want and lay down behind the Zinnie house. He watered the plants and weeds and filled up the cat water, then we left at 3:20 to go get Carly. He kept asking me “Can you say…?” and it was basically the Pipe Conductor story from Peg and Cat.

We got Carly and came home. They nursed and he played some iPad. Planets, I think. They then read a few pages of The 26-Story Treehouse, but then he stopped her, saying it was a secret. He wanted to read it with me a few minutes later, so we read more of it. He wanted dry Cheerios so Carly got him some. We had him ask nicely, and he said “The nicer I g
et…The nicer I say it, the more I get?” Carly then made some scrambled eggs for him while I read. We also read most of Berenstain Bears and Baby Make Five.

They went upstairs to play on the bed for awhile, then were back downstairs playing on the couch: “Can you be a hundred and sixty and seventeen viruses growing in babies bodies?” “Can you be a machine that makes the baby feel better right away?” He calls this “medicine water” and it drowns the germs.

Carly went up to do laundry and we finished Berenstain Bears and Baby Make Five, then read Sarah and Duck Stay at the Duck Hotel and the the Mickey Mouse book. I got a book called Space Dog but it is not much better, although the art is better. When I gave in and read the Mickey Mouse book he said “Fine. Finesy Minesy.” It was time for his shower, so he flipped through Hilo and I read it in fast forward. I then took him up and gave him a shower, washing his hair. He got the hair wet, and as we were getting him ready for sleep Carly and I were talking about how he was sad in the morning. He didn’t want us to talk about it. He was asleep about 6:40.

Photos. Same sunrise as Carly: 

One sock cookie-eating boy: 

Looking down on the trail Carly walked up: 

Masada: 

A stop to look at the Dead Sea: 

Home: 

Tomato plants: